Originally Posted by
Jimbo1983
Thanks, yeah it's been a great bike. I say been because today I went out to do some further investigation and noticed a crack in the paint. Under this crack is a crack in the steel, which I wonder why I didn't see earlier. Whether this has happened because of a loose manufacturing tolerance allowing the seatpost to move, or it's been cracked for ages and I just didn't see it, I don't know. I suspect it can be repaired but not right now.
It's a strikingly good looking bike. It's one of the only retro-roadies I've seen that works well with a black anodized drive train. I hope you have it fixed.
Originally Posted by
T-Mar
The crank codes are based on the Japanese Imperial calendar. Whenever a new emperor took the throne, a new era was officially declared. On December 25, 1926 Emperor Hirohito ascended to the throne and chose the the name Showa (radiant peace) for his era. It ended on January 07 1989 when Akihito took the throne and the Heisei (peaceful accomplishment) era began. Thus, 1926 is year 01 of the Showa era, 1927 is year 02, up to 1989, which was Showa year 64 and Heisei year 01. This Japanese Imperial Calendar was used by a number of Japanese bicycle and component manufacturers but dropped as they started to expand into international markets.
I love this kind of information. Thank you.